Standard Arithmetic
by Yusuki Mazui
Summary: AU, Seven-year old Natsume has a bit of trouble with math, how will the ever unknown Mr. Hyuuga help him as a father? Slight NAtsumexxMikan. Father's day special


Yusuki: This isin dedication for my dad, for always helping me in math, when my mom can't or before she does. I really enjoyed the time we try to solve the problems, especially algebra ones. =)

Natsume: Tachibana Higuchi owns Gakuen Alice, the person here just own the plot.

* * *

"Mr. Hyuuga, Natsume-kun's quiet rebellious for his age, the average time kids go through this stage is as a preteen or as a teenager," Narumi-sensei told Natsume's father during the parent-teacher meeting.

"Well, Narumi-sensei, Natsume's quite mature for his age. Sure, he may do little pranks here and there but compared to other boy's he's more respectful and thoughtful about his actions." Mr. Hyuuga reasoned out as he sided towards his son.

"That's true, Mr. Hyuuga. But as a seven-year old Natsume's awfully non-social, it's like he wants other people to stay away from him, and only let very little students talk to him. I think it's also affecting his marks in math. As his homeroom teacher, I would like to insist he gets tutored for the subject," Narumi informed Mr. Hyuuga once again.

"I understand Narumi-sensei, I'll make sure that his marks in math will improve. By the way, sensei, you said something about Natsume talking to a few students; may I know who they are?" Mr. Hyuuga asked Narumi, after re-assuring Natsume being tutored.

"Oh, it's mostly two people I think, Ruka Nogi and our new transfer student, Mikan Sakura." Narumi informed the parent once again.

Mr. Hyuuga faced the window that showed the play ground. As he looked outside he saw a group of four; his son, his daughter, a blonde boy and a brunette girl. The four children gathered in a circle deciding what to play as their parents attended meetings with their teachers. He showed a small smile, he latter on stood up and shook Narumi's hand gesturing his leave. As he walked out, his mind wandered to the two children Narumi mentioned, he was quite informed about his son's best friend, Ruka Nogi but he never knew or would have believed Natsume to socialize to a girl other than his sister. Mikan Sakura, the girl had intrigued him, what was she to his son? As he thought some more, he remembered five-year old Natsume telling him about a girl he met when he was at the park.

_Mr. Hyuuga looked at the almost finished painting, trying to figure the shades of paint that match the finishing touches. As he readied the paint, he was interrupted by the rarest sight. Natsume came up to him, with an eager and cheerful smile. _

"_Otou-san, guess what?" Natsume asked cheerfully._

"_I don't know Natsume. Maybe, you could tell me a way to make you smile like that," Mr. Hyuuga answered._

"_I met a pig-tailed girl today, she really cheered me up. She was very pretty too," Natsume told him._

_This had caught Mr. Hyuuga's attention; Natsume would never compliment or bother with any girl not related to him. _

"_Well... tell me more, son," he told the five year old._

_Natsume sat down on a stool next to his father who painted and continued, "Well… I was reading some manga and was very mad because Koko helped this girl know more about me so I would like her. I didn't get to punish him for that and was about to. Then I heard a very beautiful voice talking to herself. She was sitting down on a picnic blanket with some good looking food. She noticed me and offered to have a picnic with her. Did I mention that she was really pretty 'specially with her pink dress? Well…we ate her strawberry cake and talked about anything." _

_Mr. Hyuuga noticed Natsume's wide grin turn to a sad frown. _

_The boy continued with his voice a bit more depressed, "Too bad, she was only here for the weekend, and I don't even know her name."_

_After that, Natsume grew colder; he pushed people away from him not wanting to get the same disappointment he had experienced._

Mr. Hyuuga finally approached the group of children; there was an addition of an older black haired boy. He noticed Natsume's annoyed face as the boy talked to Mikan animatedly. Mr. Hyuuga waited until his children noticed him. The moment Natsume did, he nudged Aoi and followed their father home.

As a few days passed by, Mr. Hyuuga had trouble tutoring his uninterested son. He did notice the boy's interest to the girl here and there. This had given him an idea.

.o.o.o.

"Dad, this is really useless," complained Natsume as Mr. Hyuuga once again tried to teach him plain addition.

"Son, I guarantee you that it will help you in many things," Mr. Hyuuga assured Natsume.

"Whatever," his son muttered. "It's not like I would understand it anyways," he continued.

"Alright, let's start learning then. You and Mikan are having a picnic. Ruka, Aoi, Mikan's best friend, a boy and I join you two. How many people are in the picnic?" Mr. Hyuuga asked him.

"Two, I wouldn't let you guys join my picnic with Polka," Natsume answered frankly.

"Just answer the question, Natsume," Mr. Hyuuga instructed.

"I did," Natsume informed his father.

"Okay… well Mikan invited us to join you," Mr. Hyuuga reasoned.

"Seven people," Natsume answered.

"Good. Now, You, Mikan, Aoi and Ruka are playing in the playground, five boys suddenly come and flirt with her, you burn them out of jealousy. How many not burnt people are left?" Mr. Hyuuga asked.

"Four, it's me, Ruka, Aoi and Polka. And by the way dad, I wouldn't be jealous over Polka." Natsume answered.

"Correct. Now 10 boys are approaching Mikan from two different directions, you stop them by encircling them into two fire rings. There was the same amount of boys in each ring, how many boys are there in one of the ring?" Mr. Hyuuga asked.

"Five," Natsume answered once again.

"That's right. Last question, you gave Mikan two howalons every day, how many howalons did you give her in one week?" Mr. Hyuuga asked once again.

"Fourteen," Natsume answered quickly.

"Lesson's over, you can do what you want now," Mr. Hyuuga told him.

As Natsume stood up to leave he asked his father a question that had intrigued him throughout the lesson. "Ne, otou-san, why'd you ask me scenarios with Polka? That wasn't math at all."

"It was math, Natsume, standard arithmetic actually. The first scenario was addition, the next was subtraction, the third was division and the fourth was multiplication." Mr. Hyuuga told him.

"How?" Natsume question once again.

"Well, the questions were 1) 2+5, 2) 9-5, 3) 10/2 and 4) 2x7," Mr. Hyuuga explained once again.

"Hn," Natsume commented.

.o.o.o.

"So, that's pretty much how Natsume's a genius in math," Koko told them after telling his story about Natsume's intellect.

"But how'd you know he learned like that?" Kitsuneme asked him.

"Well… I don't, but I read his mind when we had to answer all standard arithmetic problems and it was all scenarios about Mikan," Koko confessed.

*beep*

"What was that?" Koko asked suspiciously as he looked around for the object the made the sound.

His eyes eventually led to Hotaru Imai who held a recorder.

"Ne, Imai, can you please please delete that?" Koko asked him.

"For 1000 rabbits, I will." Hotaru told him.

Koko thought about it, then answered, "Nevermind, either way he'll kill me for reading his mind. I wouldn't want to waste my money."


End file.
